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Subject:Certification - My Turn From:"Larry Kunz ((919) 254-6395)" <ldkunz -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 2 Jan 1996 18:58:20 EST
Tim Altom wrote a lot of good stuff, including this:
> I would suggest . . . that rather than polling tech writers about
> certification, we poll employers and clients to see if a
> certificate would mean anything to THEM. They're the reason we're
> here, after all.
We did poll employers when STC studied certification in the mid '80s,
and we'll do it again in the next year or so. Back then, the
employers expressed moderate support for certifying technical
writers, saying they'd use it to make hiring decisions but they
probably wouldn't give raises to current employees who took the
trouble to get certified.
And, while there was some support for certifying *writers*, there
was much less support for certifying other kinds of practitioners
like editors and designers. That was ten years ago, remember. I'm
anxious to see how different the results will be this time.
Larry Kunz
STC Assistant to the President for Professional Development
ldkunz -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
